Andrew Dominik Talks Reuniting With Nick Cave & Warren Ellis On ‘This Much I Know To Be True’ [Interview]

The way you said that just kind of immediately crystalized the two films in my mind and the way they’re of a conversation. The first one, “One More Time With Feeling” is grief, a naked, vulnerable portrait of grief, and this new one is really just healing. Through music, through art, through the presence of humanity, has found some healing.
It is, totally, yeah. I mean, I think Ghosteen is kind of a gospel record in a way. It’s not that you come at these movies with an agenda, I just turn up and shoot what’s going on. And then you have to make sense of it. I’ve spent a lot of time with Nick over the last few years, so I’ve seen the change. I’ve seen him sort of pull himself out of that hole.

God, I can’t imagine.
He was not… [pause] it was rough. That whole thing was rough. But he’s pulled himself out. He’s a different guy. He’s a beautiful guy and he’s always been a beautiful guy, but he’s had a sort of layer come over the top of him. Nick could be difficult, you know? And now he’s pretty much—like any person he comes in contact with, he’s trying to make their day better. It’s a beautiful thing to see, but it’s tough love. He can do a lot of tough love, Nick Cave, it’s not all touchy-feely.

Ha, yes, that reminds of that moment in the film where he’s talking about his frustrations with Warren Ellis and he kinda shakes his head, “He’s all transmit, no receive.”
Yeah, yeah. Well, he is. That’s the thing about Warren, you could barely get a word in sometimes [laughs].

So, to that end, what was it like working with them on ‘Jesse James’?
Well, I actually didn’t deal with Warren during the whole thing. It was amazing, I just spoke to Nick, and he’d pass messages down to Warren and Warren would sort of pass messages up to me. To be honest with you, it was pretty easy to deal with them. They did a bunch of music and they sent it to us and were like a couple of tunes, but it didn’t really work. And I had this awkward conversation with Nick on the phone about how, like, “this is not really good enough, you know? Or we need more.” [Laughs] And Nick really got upset cause it’d never happened to him before.

And then they went back to the studio and two weeks later they just sent me what is now the entire soundtrack to ‘Jesse James,’ which is just like the most extraordinary fucking music you’ve ever heard.

He came back with a vengeance [laughs].
Oh my God, unbelievable. The thing about these guys is you just can’t believe… I’m spoiled by it because they’re the musicians I know best in the world. And I’ll just go in there and they’ve been in there for two days and they’re just knocking out masterpiece after masterpiece. And it just comes so easily to them. I’m sure it’s not like that for everybody. I’ve probably got a false perspective on what it’s like to make music. I mean, they made Carnage in two days! Two days, they made that record in two days and they walk in, and, Nick’s got a bunch of songs, right? Songs that Warren’s not going to hold still for. And I don’t know what Warren’s got, but it’s almost nothing, but two days later they’ve got a record. It’s incredible.

As I’m sure you know all too well, the music they did for ‘The Assassination of Jesse James,’ whew, that’s one of the all-time great scores.
Yeah, it is. It’s really good. The music they’ve done for “Blonde” is amazing too. I love it.

So, I’m wondering if you’re going to check in with Nick and Warren every few years, you’ve got something of a tradition going here.
Yeah, I think so. I think it should be like, “Seven Up” or something like that [Editor’s note: Michael Apted’s documentary series where he checks in on the same family every seven years]. We should just keep doing it until we’re all dead, like who’s going to go first? I think what I’d really like to do actually, is just be there when they make the record next time and just film that. That would be amazing. ‘Cause, you know the records, right? You know, Carnage, right?

Yes, absolutely.
On Carnage that song, “Shattered Ground”? What’s on the record is the first time he ever sang it. And it’s, it’s lyrics from two different songs, Warren’s just playing that synth piece, and Nick’s just making up the lyrics as he goes, not knowing where the music’s going. And they’ve just gone—chop— just put an end on it and that’s what’s on the record. And you’re never going to get that vocal again, it’s a particular vocal. That’s what’s so fascinating about it is it’s hanging in this space of the unknown. I think the basic message is you have to develop a relationship with the unknown, you have to embrace the unknown, because we don’t really know anything. The idea that we do [know anything] is an illusion and I think that’s where they’re at, that’s where Nick’s at. And his life’s going so much better since he started doing that, since he started taking his work seriously, it’s just gotten way better.

“This Much I Know To Be True,” is a global worldwide event that takes place, this Wednesday, May 11.  You can find your local screenings here.